Patent Grant
8939609
Not applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a system and method for providing a rotary switch mechanism for use in selecting color patterns to be displayed on an attached light string.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Low voltage, low power LED light strings are becoming increasingly popular in holiday decorations. One of the complications in arranging light string systems, however, is how to provide independent color control at each light string, or alternatively allow certain pass through functions so that a “follower” light string may follow the color pattern provided by a “leader” light string. In providing such functions, however, financial considerations often drive the commercial support of one or the other “pattern selection modules” since the cost of the lights strings themselves is relatively low. Thus the need exists for an inexpensive color patter selection device used to control light strings, and in particular, holiday light strings.
In one particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention, a rotary switch for controlling a light string is provided and includes: an input board for receiving power, the input board conditioning the power to provide output DC power at a pair of output power leads; an output board connected to a light string at a pair of color signal leads; a rotary board having a first side and a second side and disposed between the input board and the output board, the first side of the rotary board facing the input board and having a plurality of concentric annular conductive rings, the concentric annular conductive rings making electrical contact with a pair flexible electrical connectors coupled to the input board and the pair of output power leads, the second side of the rotary board facing the output board and having a plurality of custom electrical connection patterns on the bottom side, the rotary board having electrical conductors extending through the rotary board so as to electrically connect the plurality of concentric annular conductive rings to the plurality of custom electrical connection patterns, the plurality of custom electrical connection patterns making electrical contact with a pair flexible electrical connectors coupled to the output board and the pair of color signal leads; and the rotary switch providing a variable DC power pattern to the light string according to electrical connections made with the plurality of custom electrical connection patterns. Further, the input board may include an AC-to-DC converter for providing the DC power at the pair of output leads.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. The embodiments illustrated herein are presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown, in which:
To facilitate a clear understanding of the present invention, illustrative examples are provided herein which describe certain aspects of the invention. However, it is to be appreciated that these illustrations are not meant to limit the scope of the invention, and are provided herein to illustrate certain concepts associated with the invention.
It is also to be understood that the present invention or portions thereof may be implemented in various forms of hardware, software, firmware, special purpose processors, or a combination thereof. Preferably, the present invention is implemented in hardware possibly containing software as a program tangibly embodied on a program storage device. The program may be uploaded to, and executed by, a machine comprising any suitable architecture. Preferably, the machine is implemented on a computer platform having hardware such as one or more central processing units (CPU), a random access memory (RAM), and input/output (I/O) interface(s). The computer platform also includes an operating system and microinstruction code. The various processes and functions described herein may either be part of the microinstruction code or part of the program (or combination thereof) which is executed via the operating system. In addition, various other peripheral devices may be connected to the computer platform such as an additional data storage device and a printing device.
It is to be understood that, because some of the constituent system components and method steps depicted in the accompanying figures are preferably implemented in software, the actual connections between the system components (or the process steps) may differ depending upon the manner in which the present invention is programmed. Specifically, any of the computers or devices may be interconnected using any existing or later-discovered networking technology and may also all be connected through a lager network system, such as a corporate network, metropolitan network or a global network, such as the interne.
Those of skill in the art will appreciate that while the description provided below specifically recites multicolored LED light strings, the general teachings of the invention are applicable to other multicolored light string systems using other types of light strings, such as incandescent bulbs, phosphorescent bulbs, luminescent bulbs, and other electric bulbs. It is also understood that other light bulb types and lighting technologies may require modification so as to function properly in connection with the present invention.
Input power signal leads 31 and input color signal leads 12 (hidden behind the power signals in
Output color signals leads 62 are provided at the left side of the rotary switch casing 15 through opening 19. These signals are provided as outputs from the output board 60 described below. Leaf springs or other flexible electrical connectors (brushes, wires, bands) 68 are mounted to via holes in the output board 60 and provide electrical connection between those vias and the bottom surface of rotary board 40. Complementing balancing springs 69 are provided on the other side of the output board 60, make physical contact with the bottom surface of rotary board 40 and provide balance to the rotary board during rotational operation. Output board 60 is fixably mounted to the casing 15 and mounting pegs 2 with screws 6. Output board hole 66 is provided for allowing central spindle 23 to pass through the board.
Similar in design to the input board provided in
In operation, the rotary switch operates in the following manner. Flexible electrical connectors 38 carry the signals DC+ and DC− provided by the input board as conveyed and conditioned from the input power signal leads 31 and signals F1 and F2 from the input color signal leads 32. By proper spacing of the rotary board under the springs 38, these four signals are presented on the four concentric annular lands 42, 44, 46 and 48 on the top surface 41 of rotary board 40. Vias distribute these signals to the bottom surface 43 of the rotary board 40 where customized and uniquely constructed lands 94, 95, 96 and 98 are provided to further distribute the signaling. Realizing that the flexible contacts 68 on the output board are in registered alignment with the outer most annular regions below those providing DC+ and DC− such that the spring and lead carrying signal DCO1 is under DC+ and the spring and lead carrying signal DCO2 is under DC−, the final connection map is provided for each of the registered positions 45 as provided below:
In this manner, the rotary switch of the present invention may be simply and inexpensively constructed wherein several discrete switch positions are provided on the switch to automatically select a particular predetermined LED light string color pattern, or alternatively allow a “leader” LED light string to drive the color scheme for other “follower” LED light strings through the rotary switch so as to maintain a homogeneous LED light string display.
The basic concepts provided above with respect to the control of a two color LED light string with a rotary switch may be extended to more sophisticated LED light strings, for example, those containing 4 or 6 different colored LEDs in each bulb. In a four-colored LED bulb, three color signal leads are required within the light string to activate all four colors. In a six-colored LED bulb, four color signal leads are required within the light string to activate all six colors. A brief description is provided below of rotary controllers to accomplish the above-recited functions for the four color LED lighting systems. Only the differences from the two colored LED system are highlighted with the understanding that common portions of the systems are constructed and operate as described above.
First, the rotary switch 10 provided in
It should be understood that the ultimate illumination pattern resulting on the four color light string will depend on the construction and arrangement of the four LED light bulbs, their positions on the string etc. For guidance in this regard, the applicant's copending U.S. patent application directed to an All Holidays Lighting System may be consulted as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/694,754 entitled Apparatus and Method for Controlling LED Light Strings, filed Dec. 31, 2012.
Additional balancing springs 139 and 169 may be provided on input board 130 and output board 160 as desired or required due to the addition of color signal springs. Finally, the four LED light string arrangement may be extended to larger more color divers systems by application of the teachings of this disclosure.
It should be appreciated that by simply changing the rotary board with a differently configured rotary board, different interconnection patterns and resultant biases may be achieved to drive light string illumination and/or provide pass-through functionality from a “leader” string. It is also important to note that the input and output boards and most other parts of the rotary switch are identical in construction with only the number of springs and type of rotary board used being changed to significantly change the functionality of the rotary switch. In fact, a single rotary board can be configured to accommodate a plurality of colored light string systems of differing numbers of LED colors all within one unit.
Although various embodiments, which incorporate the teachings of the present invention have been shown and described in detail herein, those skilled in the art can readily devise many other varied embodiments that still incorporate these teachings.
This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/685,967 filed Mar. 28, 2012 titled “Rotary Universal Switch” which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20090190341 | Galli et al. | Jul 2009 | A1 |
| 20110122609 | Dahlin | May 2011 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20140077711 A1 | Mar 2014 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61685967 | Mar 2012 | US |
